Sometimes you just can't make it into the kitchen to cook. Dr. Gourmet
has reviewed over 800 common convenience foods, ingredients, and restaurant
selections so that you know what's worth eating - and what's not. View the Index of all Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Just Tell Me What to Eat!

Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP has counseled thousands of his patients on healthy, sustainable weight loss. Now he's compiled his best tips and recipes into a six-week plan for you to learn how to eat great food that just happens to be great for you - and if losing weight is your goal, you can do that, too.

Get the prescription for better health as well as healthy weight loss, including:

Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers

We reviewed the Healthy
Choice Cafe Steamers at about this time last year. These new meals, Fresh
Mixers, are sort of like those except that you cook the rice or pasta "fresh" in
the microwave in a little plastic steamer that comes with the product.

These really are a cute gimmick but a needless one. After peeling off the plastic retaining strap the top lifts off and a tray of sauce lifts out. Fill the bowl with water to the fill line and then snap on the top. Oops, first you have to peel off the plastic label on the top to open the steamer holes.
If you are arthritic, forget this step. It can't be done. (Hey, I'm only 50
but I was reaching for some pliers when it finally came loose.)

The rice is steamed in the microwave for 5 minutes. Then the small tray of
sauce is heated for 30 seconds. Then you add the sauce to the rice bowl and
mix it all up. Whew! That's a lotta work for a microwave meal. (Who thinks
this stuff up anyway?)

This is not worth the effort. Period. Leave them on the shelf.

The two that we tested were the Southwestern
Style Chicken and the Sesame
Teriyaki Chicken. Both were awful. Just. Plain. Awful! The rice is essentially
Minute Rice and comes out pale, white and grainy. No cute little steamer
basket is going to save this. Both sauces are overly sweet and really
don't have much flavor at all. If you close your eyes you can barely
tell the difference between the two. One is a bit tomatoey and the other
a bit sweet and fruity.

All the plastic in the world won't make your food better and what's even
worse is that now you have all that plastic to get rid of. A LOT of plastic!
Not only is the food terrible, the whole concept is just plain stupid. This
wins the prize for the most environmentally unfriendly food product on the
market. (The EPA should be involved in this one.)

To add this insult to the taste buds and the injury to the environment they
are $3.50 each! You can create quite a good fresh meal for two for $7.00 and
if you don't want to, the Michael Angelo's
products are only about 50 cents
more.